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The Alive wrote
On the right track
Thursday, November 13, 2008
By John Ross
Today, of the 20 largest cities in the United States, Columbus is one of two without passenger rail service. Even Cleveland and Cincinnati have sustained train stations, while Central Ohio has maintained only tracks, overpasses and the lonely whistles of passing freight.
Many across the country are turning to trains for budget travel to cities too close for flying, too far for driving. For example, a one-way ticket from Cleveland to Chicago costs around $45, and riders enjoy not having to deal with the hassles of the airport.
“The biggest difficulty for people today is the lack of a reference point,” said Stu Nicholson, spokesman for the Ohio Rail Development Commission. “Next October will be 30 years – three generations who have never even seen passenger rail in Columbus.”
Related Stories:
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- The Passenger Rail Investment & Improvement Act
- Strickland wants 3-C Passenger Rail Restored
Cool. The Alive! has had some good articles lately, and good writing for the format of the publication. I liked the Alive and Unedited with Sporeprint and the Fitrakis article recently.
I really wish Amtrak had a station here in Columbus, it seems like a waste of gas to drive to somewhere then catch the train.
Nicely done, Mr. Ross. I’m afraid to get my hopes up, but it sounds like we’ve got a perfect storm for rail coming our way.
Fantastic article! Best passenger rail spread that has been done by any Ohio publication that I’ve seen.
The only critique I have is I wonder why someone from a conservative national passenger rail policy group with no ties to Ohio be used for this story.
Overall well done, John Ross!
This doesn’t say much, but Clinton was stumping for transit today.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/14/transition.wrap/index.html
The only critique I have is I wonder why someone from a conservative national passenger rail policy group with no ties to Ohio be used for this story.
Overall well done, John Ross!
Thanks for the kind words and the critique. Mr. Richardson is an interesting source for many reasons. He has extensive background in rail — creating new lines, managing corridors and advising leaders on how to effectively meet rail problems.
He’s well-versed on projects across the country, HR 2095 and other things addressed in the story. I felt he provided a good view about the challenges that remain ahead.
Great article. Hopefully the collective national thinking is beginning to shift to a more diverse transportation and infrastructure policy. I think someone once said something about eggs and baskets.
The only critique I have is I wonder why someone from a conservative national passenger rail policy group with no ties to Ohio be used for this story.
Overall well done, John Ross!
Thanks for the kind words and the critique. Mr. Richardson is an interesting source for many reasons. He has extensive background in rail — creating new lines, managing corridors and advising leaders on how to effectively meet rail problems.
He’s well-versed on projects across the country, HR 2095 and other things addressed in the story. I felt he provided a good view about the challenges that remain ahead.
I actually liked getting the viewpoint from Ricardson, but it might been interesting to get a comment on the quote you used in the article from Milagari or possibly just another viewpoint from a rail advocacy group in addition. Overall though I have to agree… excellent work.
BTW, I took a train from the old Union Station to Central Pennsylvania when i was very young, but I don’t recall. Evidently I was very content to make friends with some of the passengers and look out the window.
While I would love for there to still be an old style train station here, I’d be happy if we could get a shack, two tracks and 4 trains a day here.
Reading this reminds me that all hope is not lost. I ride trains as much as i can when I’m out east, and I’d love for there to be a sleeper option to NYC, Philly or DC for my trips to the East coast. I’d also be happy to ride trains to Cleveland, Cinci or Detroit for pleasure. I’d sure that I’d visit more often if I could do this.
I think that’s what most likely could come to Columbus. Those who have taken trains from, say, Alliance have experienced how minimal a station needs to be. That “station” is little more than a parking lot and a loading platform.
We could have something in the basement of the Convention Center, using the lines nearby for 3C rail. That would be enough for me to ride.
John – GREAT ARTICLE!
I took the Amtrak from Alliance to Washington, DC over Halloween weekend. The Alliance station is pretty much exactly as John Ross describes it: a parking lot (and a pretty small one, at that, unfortunately) and the boarding platform.
The major disadvantage of smaller, unmanned stations like that is that you can’t take full advantage of Amtrak’s extremely generous (compared with any airline) baggage policy. That wasn’t a huge issue for me because the carryon allowance alone was enough for just a weekend, but for families traveling to see relatives for Christmas or Thanksgiving and in the mood to take gifts, for example, we’d really want a manned station here, if we can find room for it anywhere.
That would, however, likely mean locating it somewhere other than right along High Street, and there are good arguments for locating it in the urban core. Of course, one of those reasons would involve even more room: the prospect of having our own Union Station like D.C. or NYC’s again, with intermodal passenger transit in all its forms (heavy rail/Amtrak, light rail, streetcar, bus, taxi). There would be no way to get that anywhere on High without knocking a fair amount of stuff down, though.
The major disadvantage of smaller, unmanned stations like that is that you can’t take full advantage of Amtrak’s extremely generous (compared with any airline) baggage policy. That wasn’t a huge issue for me because the carryon allowance alone was enough for just a weekend, but for families traveling to see relatives for Christmas or Thanksgiving and in the mood to take gifts, for example, we’d really want a manned station here, if we can find room for it anywhere.
That would, however, likely mean locating it somewhere other than right along High Street, and there are good arguments for locating it in the urban core. Of course, one of those reasons would involve even more room: the prospect of having our own Union Station like D.C. or NYC’s again, with intermodal passenger transit in all its forms (heavy rail/Amtrak, light rail, streetcar, bus, taxi). There would be no way to get that anywhere on High without knocking a fair amount of stuff down, though.
Gram, thanks again for filling me on your travels. I apologize for not fitting the quotes into the print story. I plan to run them in a short follow-up online piece when I get back from Miami Beach.
Your comments were very helpful.
Thanks, dude. I think this was a great issue overall. The Two Cow story was great, too.
Two thumbs up. Well written and timed.
Thanks, dude. I think this was a great issue overall. The Two Cow story was great, too.
Having discussed rail with you, I found the story even better. Really an excellent job.
putting the tracks off of high street is not only the only options but its the best because it will attract business to the area its in and expand our city from just high street. having a train station like Union St. in new york would be great for the city. it could even be like grand central. that would be really cooL!
BRETT ZONGKER
November 14, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) – Amtrak’s CEO, Alex Kummant, resigned Friday after two years on the job and following unspecified differences with the board of the national passenger railroad.
Last month, President George W. Bush signed into law a bill calling for Amtrak to receive $13 billion over five years in subsidies, though Congress will have to separately approve the money year after year.
Amtrak has posted six years of ridership and revenue growth, due in part to high gasoline and airline prices. The railroad carried a record 28.7 million people last year, with each of its routes seeing gains, an 11 percent increase over the 25.8 million trips taken in fiscal year 2007.
Still, the argument could be made that “everything in the town of Washington has some political overtone,” said David Johnson, deputy director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. “It is a little surprising. It is one of the shorter tenures in Amtrak CEO history.”
Johnson said his group wants the next CEO to focus on growing Amtrak, purchasing new equipment and adding service to cities that have limited or no train service, such as Columbus, Ohio.
READ MORE
^ That’s surprising. From everything I’ve read, he’s done a great job at Amtrak. It’ll be interesting to see who fills his shoes.
So how long before we can ride the rail ?
I’m impressed that Columbus got an explicit mention by Johnson–and that it got quoted in the Washington Times. Granted, that’s not the same coming from an advocacy groups as from someone in the government itself, but it still gets the city’s name out there in the media outside our region.